The Sickness
by Chrystal Slara
Summary: Draco's sick and imune to health potions. His partner Hermione, tries to nurse him back to health. Pride gets in the way, and did I mention Hermione is in love with him? short story, HGDM, M for a reason.
1. My Partner not my Girlfriend

Very short story we have here… and by short I mean probably a two shot… although this is the longest chapter I've ever written I think. Just a random story now that I've finished Catalyst, and before I start my new Dark Harry fic, that Draco Potter has been telling me for a while now.

Currently Beta'd

Check out the poll on my profile!!!.

The young girl in the flash back is named for one of my beta's – Noel Cullen, as a thank you for going back to all my old stories, and fixing them.

Hope you enjoy

Chrys

HGDMHGDM-HGDMHGDM

"Draco… Draco open this door… I know you're in there." Hermione shouted at the front door to his flat. After the war was over he had left the manor, as he had nothing but unhappy memories whilst he lived here. He had bought a decent size flat near the Ministry, where he worked as an auror, with his partner, Hermione Granger.

Hermione shook her head and pulled out her wand, muttering a quick alohamora, she entered his home and looked around. It certainly wasn't the first time she had ever been in his home, in fact over the last three years of working as his partner she had spent quite a bit of time there, for research, for parties… and a number of other things.

When she didn't find him in the living room, kitchen, dinning room or study, she decided that he must really be sick and still in bed. She knocked softly on the door, "Are you decent?" she asked quietly, figuring that if he was asleep she wouldn't wake him up, and if he was already awake then he would be able to answer her.

A muffled groan came from behind the door, causing her to open the door and close it behind her quietly. There laying on the bed, was her partner. Who, if he hadn't looked as if he was about to die from the plague, was so damn good looking, she would have contemplated jumping him… which she did contemplate daily but had never followed through. Draco laid there, completely naked from the waist up, his legs clad in what looked like silk lounge pants, amongst his black satin sheets that were thrown every which way, and were doing no good to cool him down or warm him up.

Hermione moved to the bed and sat down next to him, and placed a cool hand on his burning forehead. Draco who had been to busy being extremely uncomfortable and annoyed at how sick he was hadn't noticed that she had come in, until her skin met his. His eyes opened immediately and latched on to hers, causing her to give him a softly smile as she brushed his beautiful blond hair out of his eyes and off of his sweat drenched forehead.

"You're burning up," she said simply.

"I noticed," he replayed slightly sarcastic but not nearly to the extent of his days at Hogwarts. Something about the past few years had soothed him. He was no longer the scared little boy who cursed the world, but rather a strong man. He was still sarcastic, and witty, but it wasn't malicious, simply funny.

"Would you like me to brew a potion for you?" she asked him, silently thinking about how if it had been three years ago she wouldn't have cared if he died of his fever… now it mattered.

"No, it won't work… speaking of work, why aren't you there?" he asked, closing his eyes, and silently enjoying her cool hand against his burning skin.

She stroked her hand down his face, "Number one rule: you don't do anything without your partner, remember? You take a day off, making me take a day off… not that I'm complaining or anything," she replayed, "And why wouldn't a potion work, I'm sure I could correctly brew it for you, I'm not that bad at potions."

"I wasn't insulting your potion making skills, Granger. It has to do with my body… and the ingredients for the potions that cure colds and flus." He was cold yet hot, burning and freezing all at the same time and he no idea what to do about it. So he lay there and shivered as the sweat fell from his body drenching his sheets.

"Ok, how about this, I'll go run you a bath, which well help with the fever and the chills, and while you're in there you can tell me just why a potion won't work."

"You don't have to stay with me Granger, I've managed to live with the flu before your help you know," he was pushing her away, trying to make her leave so that she wouldn't see him at his weakest… frankly she wasn't having any of it.

"I know that, I'm not trying to insult your ability to shake off a fever without me Draco. I'm just here to help, and since I grew up a muggle, I do know the muggle way to cure a flu." She got up then, pulling her hand away that had been resting on his face. He instantly regretted the loss of contact. "I'll be right back." She said to him and moved towards his bathroom.

When she returned she was holding a pair of his swim trunks, which had been laying on the counter of the bathroom as well as a set of cotton sheets that she had apparated home to snatch.

He opened one eye and watched her come back towards him, "What's all that for?"

"I put a relaxing potion in the water, and charmed it so it would stay the perfect temperature. The trunks are so I can talk to you while you're in the bath, and just incase you fall asleep if I need to levitate you out, you will be covered. I'm going to replace the sheets on your bed with these, "she said pointing to the set of navy blue cotton sheets, "because that satin is not going to do any good with you trying to sweat out your fever… cotton works much better."

He nodded but still didn't move, simply closed his eye and relaxed.

"Would you like to put the trunks on or are you going to make me do it?" She asked holding him in one hand, the other on her hip.

"Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of the trunks if you put them on me?" he asked, a small smirk forming on his lips.

"As much as you want to be naked in front of me, Draco now is not the time… now is the time for you to put on the trunks and get into the tub."

"Are you always this bossy or do you just like me?" he asked sitting up slowly and pulling the shorts out of her hands.

"Both… now hurry up." She said pointing at the bathroom door.

A confused look crossed his face as he lifted himself off the bed and moved into the bathroom, gently closing the door behind him.

Hermione shook her head, _does he always have to be this stubborn… I swear if he were dying and I was holding the antidote, he would fight me tooth and nail before taking it…_

She pulled out her wand again and made a wide sweep of it over the bed, causing the satin sheets to come off and land in a pile by the door. She then flicked her wand at the pile of cotton sheets in her hand and they found themselves on the bed, followed by a blanket and a comforter.

"Slinky" she called softly, knowing the head house elf would quickly pop up into the room. When she did Hermione greeted her and asked her kindly to take the satin sheets away and get them cleaned. Slinky bowed her head and quickly did as she was told.

Hermione then moved to the door to the bathroom and knocked. At Draco's, "come in," she opened the door and slipped inside, catching sight of Draco relaxing against the rim of the tub, letting the water calm him as well as warm him up.

"Better?" she asked as she took a seat on the edge of the tub facing him.

"Much, but I can think of a way to make it even better…" he replied a sly look coming across his face.

"How's that?" she asked wondering just what was on his mind.

"If you were in here with me…"

She laughed softly and rolled her eyes, "Your inches from death, with the worst flu I've seen in a long time, and your trying to seduce me… nope you haven't changed one bit."

He shrugged, "Would you want me to?"

She shook her head, "How about instead, we talk about why you can't take a potion to clear all of this up…"

He lifted his left arm out of the water and stared at the scarred skin. When Voldemort had died the tattoo of every death eater went with him… but left behind an ugly burned forearm. "The summer after sixth year… Voldemort was testing out a potion, which would make the drinker immune to veritaserum. Because I failed him, he decided to use me as his test subject, not caring what side effects it left me with. In the end he never found what he was looking for, maybe because Snape had been telling him lies, or he just couldn't figure it out, but it never worked. Instead I became immune to any potion that uses wormwood… which as I'm sure you know, is the main ingredient to any potion dealing with the immune system."

"Fuck…" Hermione cursed under her breath.

"Yeah," He replied, letting his headrest against the edge of the tub as he floated there.

"Are you hungry at all?" She asked, attempting to find other ways to make him feel better.

"Extremely, but I haven't been able to keep anything down."

"What were you trying to eat?"

"My usual three-cheese omelet, with sausage, bell peppers, bacon, and avocado."

"No wonder you couldn't keep it down…" she sat back against the wall for a moment, "Slinky?" she called again.

The elf popped into the room, "What can I do for you Miss. Hermione?"

"Would you prepare a double helping of my usual breakfast please, along with some crackers, and two cups of Orange Juice, and place them on the table next to Draco's bed?"

"Of course Miss Hermione." She was gone again with a pop.

"I thought you hated having Slinky do anything for you?" Draco asked without opening his eyes.

"I do, but since you warded your kitchen so that I can't go in there and make my own damn food, I have to ask her to do it." She responded.

"You don't really think I'm going to be able to hold down that Peanut butter banana toast concoction that you usually eat, do you?"

"Hey, don't knock it till you try it. And yes, as a matter of fact I do think you'll be able to hold it down. The peanut butter will coat your stomach, so you feel more full than you are, the bread with give your stomach something solid to digest, and the bananas will help your immune system." Her hand idly swirled in the water above his leg, creating odd rippling patterns.

Draco was much too tired to argue with her. Any other day, they would have already have been in a heated debate about something or another, but right now all he wanted to do was curl up into a ball and catch up on the sleep that his illness had prevented him from receiving the night before.

Later he would blame his next question on lack of sleep, but currently his burning brain wanted to know something, "Why do you call me Draco?"

Hermione's hand stopped in the water, and her eyes caught his now open ones. "It is your name isn't it?"

"Well, no shit… but that's not what I asked. Why do you use it? What made you stop calling me by my last name…? I still call you 'Granger."

It felt as if Hermione's heart stopped for a few seconds. How the hell was she supposed to answer that? "I still call you 'Malfoy' some of the time." That's right… avoid the question.

"Only when your angry." He pointed out, as if it were the most obvious statement.

She paused again, "Um… Fine. You aren't Malfoy to me any more."

Draco was confused… he was still Malfoy, he always had been, "It is mean to confuse your partner, especially when he is as sick as I am."

She rolled her eyes again, a trait she had picked up when she spent long amounts of time in the presence of her partner… which was pretty much every day for the past three years. "Malfoy… Malfoy was the asshole from school, the one that couldn't stand Harry, or Ron or me. Malfoy was the highest degree of prat known to the face of the earth. And I hated Malfoy. You aren't Malfoy any more. We get along… even if we do argue, we still get along. You and Harry, while not 'Best friends' can work together with out throwing insults around. And no matter what you think of yourself, you are not the world's biggest prat anymore… That's why I call you Draco."

"I still can't stand Ron." He said as if that argument negated the rest of the reasons she listed.

"That's alright, I don't get along with him either. Especially since Luna fucked with his mind, and he now believes in Nargles and other imaginary creatures…"

"He really did get the short end of the stick when he got her as a partner. Harry got Ginny, you got me, and Ron got Luna."

"And yet years ago, they were saying they were sorry for me, for having to put up with your arrogant ass…"

He just grinned at her, "You guys were looking at my ass? I knew those two were poofs."

She would have hit his arm at that comment, but chose to roll her eyes… again.

The room was silent for a few moments. Hermione could faintly hear the elves in the other room putting the food down. She stood up to go and check on it when Draco said something that surprised her. "Are you bothered that I still call you by your last name?"

She turned to him, her eyes raking over his dangerously beautiful face. She closed her eyes, as if in pain, and gathered her breath, "I'm used to it."

When Draco opened his eyes to tell her to stop avoiding the question, she was gone.

Hermione stood stock still in his bedroom, appearing to watch the food, but her mind was far, far away. Did it bother her that he still called her 'Granger'? To be honest? YES. She hated it. To her it meant that he still saw her as the buck-toothed bushy-haired bookworm that she was in school. She looked at herself in the mirror and couldn't even see that girl anymore.

She had filled out, grown up. She stood at a decent 5' 7", her hair was soft and curly, and hadn't been bushy in years. She wasn't a toothpick, but she was in no way fat, and she didn't dress anywhere near as conservatively as she used too. Take her current outfit for instance. Bright blue tank top, which showed off just enough cleavage, and a thin strip of her stomach. Paired with some black boot cut jeans, and blue ballet flats. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail, and she had enough make-up on to emphasize her honey brown eyes.

She wasn't anything like the girl she was back in school. Books didn't hold every answer. She went out, and she partied. She even learned to enjoy Quidditch. She wasn't Granger any more… But it seemed like Draco wasn't planning on noticing any time soon.

She finally pulled herself out of her thoughts and moved over to the bed, pulling the covers back, and placed a charm on the food to stay warm. She went to the closet by the hall and grabbed the biggest, fluffiest towel she could find, which of course was silver and black and had a huge snake on it, before going back into the bathroom.

"Time to get up," she told him, holding out the towel.

Draco stayed silent and slowly got up, and took the towel from her. By the time he finished drying himself off he had the chills again, and wanted to get into bed. Before he could ask her to leave the room so he could change into some dry pants, she pointed her wand at him, and wordlessly changed his wet swim trunks into a pair of dry cotton pjs.

He gave her a thin smile and followed her out of the room, practically diving into this bed under the covers and pulling them up.

"You've got to eat before you sleep, Ma…Draco." she had to stop herself from calling him Malfoy, a sure sign that she wasn't happy with him. She knew it was stupid for her to be disappointed that he still called her Granger, but being a girl and prone to emotional mood swings, had to put up with it.

Draco shivered, "Could you hand me a T-shirt out of the bottom drawer over there… I'm really cold."

Hermione grabbed a black T-shirt and handed it to him as she took a seat on the chair that Slinky had put next to Draco's rather large bed. She flicked her wand and several things happened at once. A breakfast table found itself on Draco's lap, holding his food, the blinds covering all the windows were opened to let the light in, and the temperature of the room rose a good ten degrees.

Draco looked down at his food, and picked up the glass of juice, taking a small sip of it. He looked over to Hermione to find her already half way done with her breakfast. _It can't be that horrible if she eats it almost every morning right? _He thought to himself as he picked up the toast and took a bite.

HGDMHGDM-HGDMHGDM

(Three hours later)

Hermione sat in her chair next to Draco, who was currently fast asleep, huddled under pretty much every blanket in the house. She was watching the large flat screen TV she had helped him pick out a last year for Christmas.

Dogma was on, a movie that Draco and her loved to watch, yet she found it less than intriguing at the moment. Instead of the movie, she watched Draco, and let her mind wander to the last three years as his partner. No matter what problems they ever had on a personal level, they always worked well together. Both pulled their own weight, they never got in the other's way, and somehow they tended to think alike. She couldn't count how many times they had both shown up for work, found one tidbit of information, that no one else thought was important, and had both solved the case instantly, without even talking to the other one.

Once they had moved past the petty insults, he really was quite easy to work with, and while they didn't go so far as to finish each other's sentences… at least not most of the time, they always seemed to be on the same wavelength.

It had taken one year, eight months, thirteen days, ten hours, and approximately twenty-two minutes to realize that she was madly in love with him. They had been on a raid, of a former death eater's house, one of the few who hadn't been picked up after the war. Hermione went left, Draco right, and moved through the house as quietly as possible.

Draco had found a small girl, in the corner of what appeared to be a child's bedroom. She had a few cuts on her face and the outline of a hand on her cheek. When she had caught sight of Draco she launched herself into his arms, and wouldn't let go. He couldn't even get her to take a Portkey to the Ministry. Instead of force the child to take the Portkey, he put it away and shifted her to his hip, his left hand curling around her protectively. He left the room and continued around the house. Hermione saw him again across a large ballroom. He was on one side, she on the other, the perp in the middle, attempting to floo out of the house. When the Death Eater realized that they had blocked off the floo network, he pulled his wand on them, attempting to fight his way out. He never stood a chance.

Hours later, once the house had been swept for evidence, the man was sent to a holding cell in Azkaban, and all statements were taken, the child, who's name was Noel, was fast asleep on Draco's shoulder. Her face was buried in his neck, her legs wrapped around his waist, and her hands still clamped tightly to his shirt. While Hermione was sure that by now his arm was very tired of holding her up, he hadn't even tried to put her down. He held her close and asked for the people around them to talk more quietly so as not to wake her.

They were waiting for Noel's mother to show up, to pick up the kidnapped girl when Draco had turned to her and complimented her on _Sandex_ curse. The sight of him with a child in his arms, grinning and giving her a complement, nearly brought her to her knees in the realization that she loved him.

"What time is it?" a groggy Draco asked from beside her.

"About 1pm." She answered him. "How do you feel?"

"Like I am in a sauna," he was kicking off all of the blankets now, he even pulled off the black shirt she had handed him earlier and was fanning himself.

Hermione grabbed her wand and lowered the room temperature back to what it had been before he claimed to be freezing to death.

"You don't have to stay you know…"

Hermione looked at him, a flash of hurt briefly crossed her face. "I know I don't have to do anything. I'm your friend Draco, I'm just trying to help." She paused for a second but when he didn't say anything she continued, "Slinky made you some soup, which if your hungry I'll go grab, and then you can go back to sleep, or we can watch a movie, or read, or something."

"You're not my GIRLFRIEND, Granger. I don't need you to baby me; I don't need you to take care of me. I don't need you to do anything. I don't need you. You're my partner at work… That's it." Draco practically yelled.

Hermione's world crashed and burned right in front of her eyes, and she didn't even try to stop it. She loved him, they _were_ friends, and they hung out a lot. Yet to him, that's all she was. A _partner._

She wanted to scream at him, yell at him, cry over him, punch him in the face or hex him into oblivion, anything to make the pain stop. But she didn't. Where she suddenly found all the self-control in the world, neither of them would ever know.

She wanted to call him a liar. They were friends, and had been for some time. They had confided secrets with each other. They went to movies; watched Quidditch matches, and drank together. He had been the one that she ran to when Ron broke up with her. She had stood next to him at his father's funeral. They were more than partners…

Hermione calmly stood up, placed the remote on the bed near his hand, and walked out of the room.

HGDMHGDM-HGDMHGDM

What do you think? Like I said probably a two shot, maybe a few more… who knows?

Review pretty please.


	2. always by his side

Ok I lied… not a two shot, but still short story, the whole story is only going to be over the expanse of a few days, not including flash backs.

Chapter is Beta'd

Enjoy.

Chrys

HGDMHGDM-HGDMHGDM

The next morning Hermione stood still in the atrium of the Ministry of Magic. She was talking to her friends, who had also arrived a few minutes early. Ron, Luna, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione stood talking while awaiting their usual sixth, Draco. Most mornings were spent like this. Arriving a few minutes early, catching up, passing along any news someone had heard, before they were split up to work on their separate files.

Hermione was uncomfortable to say the least. What she really wanted to do was to go back home curl up under her blankets and cry, much like she had done the night before. She had spent hours crying, with nothing but her cat to comfort her. She had even decided that she hated him, and that if he died of his illness she wouldn't care. She spent the rest of the night trying to convince herself of this, only to find that as soon as she stepped one foot out of the fireplace in the Ministry, she quickly searched to find him. He wasn't there of course, but that didn't stop her probing looks.

Harry was telling some story about something, that had everyone intrigued but her, when Draco stepped out of the far right fireplace. Hermione froze. Her heart felt like it was beating wildly and not moving at all at the same time, and she wondered if just the sight of his face could kill her. She was pulled out of her thought process as he came towards them, stopping every few moments to have a coughing fit. He was even paler than the day before, his clothes hung limply on his body, as if even they were sick. Draco Malfoy looked like shit… and she bet he felt like it too.

"Dude, what are you doing here, you look like hell… Go home." Harry said when Draco came near them.

"Thanks, but we've got shit to do… Dark Wizards to catch…" He didn't make eye contact with Hermione, in fact she was sure he didn't even look at her.

Draco fell into another coughing fit, and while Luna was sure he had swallowed a Kippy, Hermione knew better. "Ron, you two just finished the case you were working on right?"

When Ron nodded she continued on, "The Carson file is on my desk. In fact it should be the only file on my desk. Do you think you and Luna could take a look at it and see what you can come up with… Malfoy is in no condition to work, and probably won't be for a few days."

"Sure 'Mione." Ron answered, pulling Luna along so that they could start working.

"Ginny could you tell Carlyle, that we won't be in for a few days? Tell him the Carson file is the only thing we had, and I already gave it away. And that if he needs anything just to send an owl."

"No problem, Hermione. Carlyle, has been telling you two to take a break for some time now anyway, I doubt he will mind." Ginny gave Hermione a hug and a quick peck on the cheek.

When Harry and Ginny left as well, and Draco had finally started breathing again, completely unaware of the fact that everyone else was gone. Hermione grabbed his arm and dragged him to the nearest Fireplace.

"Where are we going… I just got here?"

"You are in no condition to work, Malfoy." She stated as she shoved him into the fireplace and called out "Draco's Flat."

HGDMHGDM-HGDMHGDM

As soon as they arrived at his house she pushed him towards his bedroom door, telling him to get into his pjs, and back into bed. Her voice held no room for question, or argument. This was probably the first time in his entire life that he didn't dare try and defy her.

Slinky was standing in the living room, shining the silver, when Hermione entered. "Did he eat at all this morning?"

"No Miss," the elf answered.

"Would you be so kind as to prepare the same food as yesterday?"

"Of course Miss." Slinky snapped her fingers and all the silver disappeared. The elf popped up and went into the Kitchen.

Hermione took a few calming breaths before she entered his bedroom. She was surprised to find that he had done exactly as she told him to. He didn't look very happy, and was still coughing up his right lung, but at least he was in comfortable clothes and in bed.

Before he could say anything she spoke. "Look, Malfoy. You don't need me. You obviously don't want me. And you don't give a shit about me, and you know what… that's fine. But I will not have my _PARTNER_, slowly die while we attempt to catch Carson. So you are going to lay in this bed, eat what I tell you to eat, sleep as much as possible, and when you are better, then, and only then am I going to leave, and let you get on with your sad little existence."

She was ranting… he could tell that she was even more mad than the first time he had called her a mudblood. Somehow… for an unknown reason, he respected that anger… maybe because he understood anger, and pain. Those were two emotions he had always been tied to, and he respected anyone in that current state.

He stayed silent, still wouldn't look her in the eye, and didn't say a word.

Slinky came in then, levitating a tray of food and placing it down on Draco's lap. "Is there anything else I can get you Master Draco, or Miss Hermione?"

Again Draco said nothing, and left Hermione to tell Slinky that they were fine.

"I'll be back in a few." She said in a strained voice and left the room.

She flooed back to her own house. She grabbed a few books she hadn't read yet, a couple of DVD's that Draco had mentioned a few weeks ago that he would be interested in seeing, and a small stack of fabric, meant for Slinky, so that she could sew her own clothing, and not have to wear old, ugly tea cozies. She also found cough drops in her medicine cabinet, and put them in the pile to go back to Draco's.

She changed out of her work clothes and into some more comfortable ones, a pair of jeans and one of Krum's old jerseys. She slipped on a pair of flip-flops and flooed to Draco's.

Leaving the fabric on the kitchen table for the elf, she went back into the bedroom and placed her stuff on the side table. Draco had just finished eating when she walked in, so she banished the table, leaving him only with a large bottle of water.

She threw the bag of cough drops at his chest, "Suck on those, they will make your throat feel better."

He caught them and read the bag. After making sure she wasn't attempting to poison him, he popped one into his mouth. "Thanks," he mumbled.

"Yeah," she answered attempting to keep her voice as flat and emotionless as possible.

He looked over at her, and for the first time that day caught her eyes. He saw pain, and he hated it. _Damn it… why was it always him that hurt her? Why the fuck was he always so damn cruel?_

"You went out and bought those movies I said I wanted to see?" he asked, looking at the stack in her hand.

Hermione blushed, "Um… No. My parents already had them, I just popped over to their house and borrowed them."

"You popped over? They live three hours away." Draco responded.

"I am a witch you know. I flooed over after work one night." She would have liked it if he had dropped the subject right then… then again being Malfoy, he couldn't do her that favor, could he?

"Hermione you hate the floo network. Especially when you have to floo far distances."

"So what? I went and saw my parents, had dinner with them, noticed that they had the movies you were talking about and grabbed them. This was of course before you informed me that we are j_ust_ partners. I wouldn't have bothered." _Damn it_, had she said that out loud? _Fuck_, she had told herself to not show just how much his words had hurt her… but he could be so damn irritating most of the time.

Draco opened his mouth, but Hermione cut him off once more. "Look Malfoy, just pick a fucking movie, so I can put it on, and you can rest. I would like it if I didn't have to spend the rest of my life here nursing you back to health."

"I thought I wasn't Malfoy anymore."

Hermione wanted to die. "I guess you proved me wrong."

She didn't give him a chance to pick a movie, just grabbed the first one off the top and put it into the DVD player. Then she moved to the chair by his bed and tucked her legs underneath her. Pulling out a notebook she always kept on her and a muggle pen, she opened it up and began writing. She ignored Draco, she ignored the movie, she ignored everything, and focused on her writing.

Draco watched her. He knew he had been brushed off. It was funny actually, nearly every wizard or witch he had ever met, wouldn't dare brush him off. He was Draco Malfoy, powerful with or without his family, and wouldn't hesitate to curse you if you crossed him. But Hermione didn't care. She stood up to him, she ignored him, she screamed at him, and she gave just as well as she got. Every insult always had a come back, every question had an answer, and she always got in the last word. He used to find it infuriating… but now? It was different now. He respected her for fighting back; hell, he even enjoyed it.

"Granger?"

"What do you want?"

"You can't possibly be comfortable in that chair. There is plenty of room on the other side of the bed."

She was shocked into silence; it only lasted a minute. "I'm fine."

"Granger you hate that chair. You always ask me why I keep such an uncomfortable thing around. Come on, sit on the bed, I don't bite… hard."

She rolled her eyes, "Just watch the damn movie, or go to sleep, Malfoy. Don't worry about me." _Not that you really do…_ she wanted to add, but felt it would be better if she held her tongue.

"Its not like I have the plague or anything. You've sat on my bed millions of times, why not now?" he was pushing, and in his own twisted way, attempting to apologize. If he could just get her comfortable and not be pissed off anymore, his apology would probably go over with a lot less screaming.

"Will you promise to shut-up if I do?"

At his nod she sighed and stood up, moving over to the other side of the bed and sat down, her back stiff against the headboard.

Draco gave a small smile and turned over so that he was facing her. She was expecting him to start talking again and swore that if he did, she would not be responsible for the spells that came out of her wand. Instead though he turned towards the television, and watched the movie.

He was asleep within an hour. Not even the action in the movie could keep him from drifting off. Once she realized he had fallen asleep she stopped the movie and turned the television off, so that when he woke up he would be able to skip a few scenes back and start from where he left off.

She looked down to her notebook and realized she was done. The next month's calendar was done her grocery list, and all of her thoughts on the Carson case, which tomorrow she would attach to an owl and send it to Ron. She put the notebook down on the ground, and accioed a book from the other side of the bed, making sure it didn't hit Draco, on its way to her hand.

She scooted down so that she was more like lying, instead of sitting, and began to read about vampires in a small town of Forks. It really came to no surprise, due to the lack of sleep she had gotten the night before, when she fell asleep directly after the second chapter.

HGDMHGDM-HGDMHGDM

Draco woke up slowly and noticed two things. The first was that he felt marginally better. Not great, but he did feel better. The second thing he noticed was that Hermione was pressed against his side, her head resting on his shoulder and she slept peacefully.

He smiled softly and tried not to move, so as to not wake her up. She really was beautiful, especially when she was asleep. Her guards were down, and she was relaxed, and all he wanted to do was snuggle up against her. Of course, Malfoy's didn't snuggle, but the urge was there.

He thought back to the first time she had slept in his bed. A half-blood witch had decided that killing Voldemort wasn't enough, and when she caught sight of Lucius Malfoy, had killed him on the spot. Draco's father hadn't seen it coming, and had no time to react.

Draco had expected the aurors to ignore the murder, due to who had been killed, and tell him that they "tried." Many of them didn't care, but Hermione did. Hermione hunted down the witch as if she had killed the Minister of Magic himself. When she had caught up with the girl, she had restrained her and was preparing to transfer her to Azkaban, when the girl had said something that broke Hermione.

"He deserved it."

Hermione had forgotten her wand and full out punched the young girl in the face, breaking her nose, and cutting a few of Hermione's knuckles. The girl had fallen to the ground, clutching her nose, and Hermione pulled her wand once again, forcing the girl to look up at her.

"No one, deserves to be killed out of the blue, walking down the street. He happened to be on his way to his son's Birthday party. Do you realize that you've killed somebody's father, somebody's husband? You are a coward to attack a man from behind, and kill him in cold blood."

Hermione had jerked the girl up then, and sent her to Azkaban. She made sure that the Ministry and the Wizengamot prosecuted her to the full extent of the law.

She had gone to Draco's house then to tell him the news. He had yelled at her for going without him, for taking on the witch by herself and forgetting about the partner rule. He stood there screaming, and she took every word of it, because she knew he was hurting. He stopped when he saw her hand, slowly swelling up, and covered in blood. He had lifted her hand and stroked his fingers across the knuckles lightly, before raising his eyes to her.

"You hit her?"

"I broke her nose… she tried to tell me that Lucius deserved it. While I've never been the biggest fan of your father, no one deserves to be murdered in cold blood. To be attacked from behind, by a person he had never done an injustice to. He didn't deserve it."

Draco was shocked into silence. He stood there holding her hand like that for what seemed like an eternity, until she had pulled a small box out of her pocket and handed it to him.

"This was found in your father's robes. He was on his way to the party, Draco, when she attacked…"

Draco opened the box to find the signet ring that had been on his father's finger for as long as he could remember. Lucius had disowned Draco when he failed in his sixth year. Lucius had regretted it every day from there on out but had been too proud to ask Draco for his forgiveness… until that night. The ring meant that Draco was his heir, his son, it was his way of apologizing. It would have been nice if he had lived to find out that his son's answer would have been one of forgiveness.

The memorial service was held two days later. Hermione attended with him, her hand firmly gripped in his. On his finger he wore the Malfoy ring, on her's, the bruises from punching Lucius' killer. She didn't' let go of his hand once. She knew that Draco did not enjoy public displays of affection, and yet she knew he needed something. Her hand in his had comforted him. She had stood next to him as he stared at the face of his father, and she had been the only one that heard Draco's painful whisper of, "I forgive you."

She had comforted Narcissa, held the reporters at bay, and helped him through his grief, without even being asked. Once all the others had left, he touched Lucius' tomb one more time before apparating them to his house. He hadn't let go when he had laid down on his bed, and she didn't pull away. Instead she had curled up next to him, both still in their clothes from the funeral, wrapped a protective arm around his waist, and held him. He had cried that night, and she hadn't judged him. She had laid there with him, and listened. He had told her that Lucius wasn't as horrible to his family as most people thought. Lucius wasn't solely evil, and did teach Draco a great many things besides being a Death Eater.

Draco was brought back to the present when Hermione shifted against him, her arm stretched across his chest and holding on to his shoulder. He smiled and enjoyed the feeling of her pressed against him.

He had lied the day before. He did need her. She was much more than his partner. She was his lifeline. He couldn't count the number of times Hermione Granger had saved his life over the past three years.

They laid there for a while, completely silent. Draco was watching Hermione, sucking on cough drops so as to not wake her up with his cough. He heard her mumble something, but disregarded it. That is, until the grip on his shoulder tightened and her body began to shake.

"No, Draco." She mumbled, "Don't leave…" Her hand tightened again and her voice broke, "Please."

"Granger wake up…" he shook her softly, only thinking about getting her out of her nightmare. "Wake up, your safe. It's just a dream… I'm not going anywhere."

Hermione popped up then, sitting up in bed looking disoriented and completely out of sorts. Draco put a hand on her shoulder and when she turned around and realized it was him, she jumped out of the bed and moved to wall on the other side of the room.

"Are you ok?" He asked, watching her, wondering what spooked her.

"Fine." She bit out. She took a calming breath before repeating herself; "I'm fine."

"Granger, what was…."

She cut him off, "Are you hungry… I'm hungry. I think I'll go get us some food. Yeah, food. I'll be back."

She stepped out of his room and closed the door behind her, leaning against the wall and closing her eyes. Fuck it all to hell… she hated that dream, and now it was even worse. She could see Draco moving farther and farther away from her, and no matter how fast she ran, or how loud she screamed, he always disappeared.

"Miss can I help you?" Slinky was in front of her.

"I… Um… Yeah. Can we have some soup please." She rubbed the bridge of her nose slightly and heard Slinky disappear with a pop. She couldn't be a coward… she needed to go back into that room and face him, like the Gryffindor that she was.

Hermione took several deep breaths before she went back into the room, taking a seat next to him on the bed again, picking up the book she had been reading earlier from the floor. She placed it on the table and sat there, her legs underneath the blankets, and her back against the headboard, ramrod straight. Her fists were clenched at her sides.

Draco stared at her. He was going to have to apologize. He knew that, he knew that he would have to make up for yesterday's harsh words. Of course it was just his luck that when he opened his mouth to do so, Slinky appeared, placing a tray over both of their laps with a steaming bowl of soup and a packet of crackers.

Draco didn't realize just how hungry he was until he could smell the soup in front of him. He quickly dug in, eating as fast as possible without throwing up.

Hermione ate slowly. By some logic the slower she ate, the longer it would be before Draco would ask her any questions. Some how her logic was flawed.

"I'm sorry. I was wrong."

She nearly got whiplash with how fast her head turned when she heard those words. She was shocked into silence.

"You are much more than my partner, Hermione. You are my friend, and I do need you, and your help. I hate letting people see me when I'm weak, especially people that mean a lot to me. And you do mean a lot to me. You should have beat the shit out of me for what I said yesterday."

She continued to stare at him. _He needed her?_

"The only reason I even tried to come to work today was to get you to force me back here. I knew you would. I wanted to talk to you, tell you I was an idiot." There was a pause in his speech, and he looked her directly in the eye waiting for her to do something… Merlin, she could have punched him across the face and he would have been happy… at least it was a response. "Please Hermione… Say something."

"You called me Hermione… twice."

"Well, that is your name isn't it?" He had a sad smile on his face, and it hurt her heart just to look at him.

"You've never called me Hermione before… ever."

"No time like the present to start then."

She shook her head, "Who are you and what have you done with my partner. Apologizing… admitting your wrong, calling me 'Hermione', maybe that fever is higher than I thought." She placed her hand against his head, but found it only slightly warmer than usual.

"My fever is fine… I think it broke while I was sleeping."

There was a pause. It seemed like a whole minute before Hermione scooted down so that she was lying down. "Did you want to finish watching the movie, or read?" Some how… that was it. The fight was over. Draco wasn't going to lose his partner… but both wanted more than they were currently letting on.

"The movie. It was getting interesting about the time I fell asleep."

She nodded and picked up the remote, turning everything back on and backing up a few scenes.

They lay like that for hours, watching movies, dozing on and off, relaxing. It was nice to have a few days off, even if you were in bed with the flu.

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW

Pretty please… makes the writer happier thanks… and don't forget to pet Draco Potter on the way out


	3. My Mr Perfect

OK so I was close… not a two shot, instead a three shot. This chapter is about half the size of the other ones but its all that is left. Hope you enjoy it

Chapter currently beta'd

Enjoy,

Chrys

HGDMHGDMHGDM- HGDMHGDMHGDM

It was the following day. Draco was feeling much better but had decided to stay at home at least one more day. They talked for a while, about books, about cases, about anything. She had put a new movie on called _27 Dresses_, knowing it was a chick flick, but figuring it would be funny enough to hold Draco's attention.

Funnily enough, Draco was getting pissed at the movie. Every scene had him wanting to jump through the screen and smack them all on the back of their heads. When they got to the scene where Kevin hands her a blackberry, he flipped, stopped the movie and turned the television off.

"Hey, I was watching that…" Hermione said, rolling over and facing him, she had changed this morning and was in some tiny red shorts and a white tank top, her hair, up in a messy bun.

"This movie is stupid." He said rather childlike.

She raised her eyebrow at him, silently telling him to go on.

"Why can't she see what's right in front of her face. What does it matter that her sister lied to him? If he can fall for that shit then he's the stupid one. And honestly, Kevin is much better suited for her. This isn't the fifties. She isn't supposed to be with the guy that is "perfect" because he is really never perfect… it doesn't matter if it seems like fate itself is putting the two of them together, because it's never Mr. Perfect. That person belongs to someone else. Mr. Perfect is supposed to be the guy you fight with, the one that makes your blood boil. You argue, you fight, and then you have hot make up sex. It's not supposed to be perfect." Draco was practically yelling at the situation, not at Hermione, but at the movie and the situation.

"But what if she was meant to be with Mr. Perfect?"

"If she was meant to be with Mr. Perfect, he wouldn't fall for her sister… or her friend." There he said it, he got it off of his chest… because really, wasn't their situation just like the movie? "She needs to open her eyes and see the guy that is standing right in front of her, and realize that he is _her_ Mr. Perfect. They are supposed to fight, just as long as they always make up in the end."

Hermione was suddenly extremely uncomfortable about the conversation. Could he be talking about them? She never thought that Draco would reciprocate her feelings, she wasn't sure he did… but with that "friend" line… could he have been talking about Ron and Luna? She got out of bed and stood up, silently moving towards the door. "Maybe, she notices him. Maybe she's waiting for him to notice her."

Haven given Slinky the day off, Draco had to lower the wards around his kitchen. It was the first place Hermione had run to, needed to do something with her hands. _Had she actually just said that to his face?_ She wasn't sure what would be worse, him realizing it was them that she was talking about… or him not realizing at all. She wanted him badly… even Harry had noticed, and had told her to go for it. But she was scared. It was the one thing her Gryffindor bravery hadn't helped her on. She didn't want to lose his friendship, she didn't want to lose her partner, she didn't want to lose Draco. She was much too scared to put all that on the line. Even if it meant living the rest of her life with her heart doing flips every time she saw him.

" 'Mione, is there something you need to get off your chest?" a voice from the door way said.

Hermione shivered at the use of a pet name only Ron had ever used… somehow it sounded a million times better coming from his lips. "Now why would you think that?" she asked, fixing herself a pb&j sandwich.

"You practically ran from my room, after making a very… _interesting_ statement."

"I didn't run. I'm hungry and wanted some food is all." She kept her back to him, she didn't want him to see her face… it would ruin everything.

Draco came up behind her, his arms coming in-between her body and her busy hands. He pulled the knife from her hand and set it next to the two pieces of bread. He wrapped his arms around her stomach and pulled her slightly back from the counter, so that she couldn't reach any sharp utensils.

"Don't lie to me 'Mione."

Her head bowed. She knew she was caught… the question was should she push ahead, or hold back. She opened her mouth many times, hoping that if she just said one word, the rest would fall out of her mouth. Unfortunately her mouth didn't seem to want to comply with this plan.

Draco buried his face in her shoulder, and he began running his lips gently over her exposed skin. "You weren't talking about us, were you?"

"Why… um, why would you think that?" she practically stuttered, making Draco silently laugh.

"It was always supposed to be you and Ron… Mr. and Mrs. Perfect, except he fell for the blond, and you were left holding the train of her gown at the wedding… and here I stand, the one you argue with, the one you fight with, and yet the plot line of our life always brings us back together. The plot twist is both of us think we are waiting for the other one to notice them."

If it were possible, her heart would have grown wings and flew. She visibly relaxed against him, her arms covering his, her neck leaning to the side to give him more flesh to taste, but her mouth stayed silent… a rare occurrence.

"I've been in love with you for quite a while now Hermione. Even before my father died I think. I started falling when you punched Harry for calling me a killer. I had figured that you all felt like that towards me, but you didn't. You hit Harry, you screamed at Ron; you even glared at Ginny. When your fist went flying, there were only two things running through my mind. The first had been: _Thank god I'm not on the other side of that fist again_. And the second was: _How could I not fall in love with the only person with the guts to stand up for me."_

"Do you remember Noel?" she asked quietly.

"Of course I do. She still writes to me from time to time. She's getting ready to go to Hogwarts next year. From the looks of it she'll probably be in Ravenclaw."

"I fell in love with you when I saw you holding her. You could have left her Draco, done a soft stunning spell to pull her off of you and sent her to the Ministry, but you didn't. You held onto to her the whole time. That's when I fell in love with you." Hermione turned around in his arms, and wrapped her own around his neck.

He leaned down to kiss her then but she stopped him, placing one finger on his lips. "Why did you scream at me the other day?"

Draco closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers. "I wanted a response… and I didn't want you to see me as… less than immortal. If that even makes sense." He looked like he was trying to find the right words, "I always want to be your Hero, and there you were, taking care of me… when I said that you weren't my girlfriend, some part of me was hoping you would slap me and tell me you wanted to be."

"Oh Draco." She sighed before going up on her tiptoes and kissing him.

He pulled her closer and returned her kiss ten-fold, his hands buried in her hair, holding her head in place as he kissed her senseless, just the way he had always wanted to.

"Draco…" she breathed against his lips, panting.

"Yes, my love?"

"Bed… Please."

Draco picked her up then, her legs wrapping around his waist, and his hands supporting her behind. He continued to kiss her as he walked back to his bedroom, and laid her down on the sheets they had just changed that morning.

She sat up, her eyes locked with his standing form, as she ripped her shirt off over her head, unclipped her bra and tossed them to the other side of the room.

Draco grinned and did the same to his own shirt, and would have pulled his pants off if Hermione's fingers hadn't already beat him to the punch. She had him naked in no time, an appreciative glint in her eye, when she caught sight of his beautiful naked form. Draco was… Paris, Achilles, and Apollo all rolled into one. She swore he didn't have an ounce of fat on his body, as every muscle stood out as if carved from marble by Michalangelo himself. He was still pale, and handsomely so, his milky white skin stretched over his pecs, and arms, and incredible 8-pack. She loved the thin line of blond hair that trailed from his belly button to the nest of curls that surrounded the base of his impressive hard-on. He was big… even Hermione in her limited sexual experience (three other guys to be exact), knew that Draco was larger than most men were. Just the sight of his very hard cock made her knickers soaked.

She smiled up at him, her eyes traveling down his body. She lifted a hand and stroked it ever so slowly down his chest and to his navel. She ran her hand over the hair there. Her fingers brushed lower until they were wrapped around his cock, stroking him from base to tip slowly, exploring his manhood. She licked her lips appreciatively and Draco snapped.

He lifted her hand from him and pinned her down on the bed, ripping away her shorts and her soaked panties. He grinned at her, and she returned it. She was beautiful, and if he was Paris, she would be his Helen, the most beautiful woman of all the land. Hermione took his breath away; her breasts were not huge, but more than handfuls, her nipples hard, and pointed. Her stomach was tight, but soft at the same time, and the brown dusting of curls at her apex had him panting for more. He could already see her liquids dripping out of her, making her core glisten, simply awaiting his hand, his mouth, or his cock.

He began with his fingers, gently brushing over her sex, leaving feather light touches, which had her begging. He complied by dropping to his knees and pulling her hips to the edge of the bed. His talented tongue gently licking at her folds, as two fingers found their way inside of her.

"Fuck Draco… Please… fuck." Hermione was moaning, and Draco had never heard anything sweeter. With a final lick to her clit he stood back up, nudging her until she lay long way's on the bed and he was between her soft smooth legs.

"You have no idea what you do to me 'Mione. Just sitting at your desk and working on a case gives me a hard on." He leaned down and kissed her again, hard and passionately, making her moan into his mouth as his cock brushed against her wet pussy.

Hermione's hands gripped Draco's silky hair and brought him closer, her legs wrapping around his waist so that his cock was poised at her entrance.

"I made sure to put both of our desks in one office, just so I could stare at you all day." She responded, her hand running through his hair lovingly, stroking his head and the back of his neck.

He slipped into her slowly and sensually, wanting to prolong every feeling she elicited from him. "I blew off the front of your desk the first day of work, so that I could look at your legs when you wore a skirt."

Her giggle turned into a moan as she tightened her legs around him and he sunk into her the entire way, staying there, feeling the muscles clench and tighten around his cock. "I always make you do anything involving water, just so you'll take your shirt off." One of her hands fell from his hair and stroked down his chest, lightly running over his naked muscles.

Draco pulled almost all the way out before thrusting back in a little quicker this time. Both of their faces had identical smiles on them that together could probably light up the world. "I'm not nearly as clumsy as I act… I just do it to make you laugh."

Hermione leaned up and kissed him again, slipping down completely on his cock and rocking her hips against his harder and faster. If she hadn't already been head over heels in love with him for years she would have fallen right then and there.

Draco's hands held her head to his, kissing her with abandon as he picked up speed, thrusting into her harder and faster, making her moan into his mouth. She felt like heaven underneath him, and he never wanted to leave her heat.

Hermione grinned against his lips and flipped them over so that she was on top of him. His back pressed against the mattress as she rocked her hips in dangerously slow circles.

Draco gasped, attempting to hold on to his orgasm and his sanity. "The Duncan estate… Could have flooed in, but I wanted to see you ride a horse."

She linked one of her hands with his, their fingers intertwining. "Do I ride well Draco?" she asked rolling her hips over him as if he were a large Stallion.

"Fuck yes…" he moaned out, his hand gripping hers. He thrust upwards attempting to catch her off guard, his finger finding her clit and stroking her in time with the rocking of her hips.

"The war remembrance ball last year…" she pushed down a little harder onto his cock and fingers and purred, so very close to climax. "I spiked your date's drink so that she would go home. I wanted to dance with you so much that night."

Draco's body arched off the bed burying himself deep inside her as waves of pleasure built up, "I hexed Thomson, that day at work so that he wouldn't be well enough to take you to the ball."

Her laugh turned into a scream as he thrust up hard causing her climax to overwhelm her, and send her flying. Draco wasn't far behind, his own orgasm being ripped from his body by her intense heat and strength.

She collapsed slightly to the side of him, her arm draped over his chest, her leg thrown over his waist, their other hands still holding on to the other as they attempted to breathe again.

When they caught their breath they looked at one another, with identical smiles spreading across their faces. Draco leaned down and kissed her, in a soft, kind, caressing manner.

"You are beautiful." He whispered against her lips.

A tapping at the window interrupted their embrace. Hermione climbed over Draco and opened it, letting the bird in and land on the perch Draco kept in the corner. Hermione detached the letter from the owl and pointed to a dish with food pellets and water, before turning back to her lover.

By now Draco was sitting up, completely comfortable in the fact that he was naked, and motioned her to come back to the bed, and sit down.

Hermione moved back to the bed as she opened the letter and took a seat in-between Draco's legs, leaning back against his chest.

_Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy,_

_In light of your recent sickness I feel it is best if you two take at least a week of the vacation you have stored up (leaving you each with 4 weeks). The Carson case has been solved and the workload here is light. Please enjoy a vacation, I know you both need it after the long hours you have been putting in. _

_Enjoy your time off,_

_Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement_

Carson Carlyle III 

There was silence as the two read over the note from their boss.

Hermione broke it first. "You know… we didn't get to see much of Hawaii last time we were there…"

Draco grinned into her shoulder, slowly kissing up to her ear, "No we didn't."

"Draco?" Hermione asked, tossing the letter into the bin and linking both of their hands together in front of her.

"Yes 'Mione?"

"I love you. Forever and always. You've always been my Mr. Perfect." She said plainly, completely relaxed and at ease in his arms.

"Forever and always to you too, my love."

The END

HGDMHGDMHGDM- HGDMHGDMHGDM

- I just wanted to point out my own slight irony for those of you who care nothing for Greek mythology, this is ironic because in Greek Mythology, Hermione is the daughter of Helen, who of course is the reason behind the Trojan war. Just thought I'd point that out.

Did you like it? Do you want to pet my very cute blond haired green eyed bunny named Draco Potter? Are you simply itching to leave someone a review? Then push the button… no not that button… the "go" button.

Thanks


End file.
